South Western Railways - new timetable from 17th Jan 2022

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Copied on to me - sent to "relevant stakeholder on the South Western Railway network" which appears to be a list I / we are not on:

Dear Xxxxx,

The onset of the Omicron variant has led to and is continuing to cause a shortage of staff across our business – from drivers and guards to engineers and controllers. These staff shortages have inevitably had a significant impact on our services, leading to short term cancellations.

As a result, we will be introducing a new, consolidated timetable from Monday 17 January 2022. Our focus is on producing a timetable that is deliverable, so that we improve reliability for our customers, and caters for key workers, school pupils and those who cannot work from home. We will be publishing further details on our new timetable as soon as we can in the new year on our website and will send a further email at that time.

From the beginning of January through to the introduction of the new timetable on 17 January, our services will still unfortunately be subject to short notice cancellations or alterations. Please check to see if your planned train is running as close to your time of travel as possible.

We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this situation will cause.

My correspondent writes:

Not sure how this work with connections at Westbury and Salisbury to London Waterloo. from Bristol Temple Meads Keynsham,  Oldfield Park,  Bath Spa,  Bradford on Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury, Warminster Salisbury line  - connections with First Group, Great Western Railway.

and (short of details) neither am I!

[Surrey 455]

They've also announced it on Twitter too.

South Western Railway on Twitter

In light of the impact of the Omicron variant on staff numbers, we are introducing a new timetable on Monday 17 January.

Until then, our services are subject to short term alterations. Please check before your travel.

More information is available here:

Unfortunately that last line links to a page that does not yet seem to show the revised timetables.

[Fourbee]

Around a week to go and still no detail:
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey

The timing of these service reductions feels a bit late anyway if building timetable resilience is the reason for them. My guess is the work from home guidance will be dropped at the end of the month and a reduced service wont encourage passenger numbers to recover.

[TaplowGreen]

Around a week to go and still no detail:
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey

The timing of these service reductions feels a bit late anyway if building timetable resilience is the reason for them. My guess is the work from home guidance will be dropped at the end of the month and a reduced service wont encourage passenger numbers to recover.

Commuter passenger numbers will never recover to anything like what they were. We're in a new world of work now, with a "hybrid" pattern the new normal for most.

[Surrey 455]

Around a week to go and still no detail:
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey

The timing of these service reductions feels a bit late anyway if building timetable resilience is the reason for them. My guess is the work from home guidance will be dropped at the end of the month and a reduced service wont encourage passenger numbers to recover.

I'm hoping it's not too drastic. The covid cuts in 2020 left me with a replacement bus service for several months.
I have a week off week starting 17 Jan & I will be making several day trips. I will need to examine the new timetable & that of Southern to decide if they are still practical.

[Surrey 455]

It's a bit worrying that the Plan My Journey page states

Journey planners are currently up to date, up to and including Sunday 9th January.

So only up to date if you are not planning a journey from tomorrow onwards?

[stuving]

It's a bit worrying that the Plan My Journey page states

Journey planners are currently up to date, up to and including Sunday 9th January.

So only up to date if you are not planning a journey from tomorrow onwards?

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) announced the reduced timetable on, I think, 30th December. At that time I think the horizon was 9th January, but with cancellations on the day to be expected. Having a reduced timetable is meant to reduce that, of course, which is why DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) was twisting TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) arms to come up with one. I get the impression they were resisting, presumably because that would mean assuming a level of staffing, and it just wasn't predictable.

The other problem is that to almost remove on-the-day cancellations, over al the separate staff groups they need, means planning for staff availability of (I'm guessing here) about 70% of the average you expect based on recent experience. For those calling for such a timetable that's a "be careful what you wish for".

I had a look at what National Rail say about about when in the future the OJP^▸ (Online Journey Planner) is populated with data. It does not make a lot of sense. Under "Advance Tickets and Seat Reservations" it says for SWR:

Saturday service:
26 February

Sunday service:
27 February

Monday to Friday service:
25 March

Latest time of reservation:
Advance tickets are available up to 23:59 the day before travel.
Notes:

South Western Railway do not offer seat reservations but have quota controlled advance purchase products.

And under "Temporary Timetable Changes, Expected Journey Planner availability":

Unless listed in the Train Operator details below, these dates are when the journey planner is expected to be showing correctly in the journey planner

Saturday 19 to Friday 25 February

Should be available from Monday 10 January.

[and a week later for each later week of six.]

This is listed under for SWR:

Saturday:
8 January

Sunday:
9 January

Monday to Friday:
7 January

Notes and exceptions:
Some services on 15 / 16 January and from 12 - 18 February are currently showing incorrectly. You can check your journey here.

I think that (like the Plan My Journey page) says "we've been thinking how to do this but it still defeats us".

[Fourbee]

Around a week to go and still no detail:
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey

The timing of these service reductions feels a bit late anyway if building timetable resilience is the reason for them. My guess is the work from home guidance will be dropped at the end of the month and a reduced service wont encourage passenger numbers to recover.

Commuter passenger numbers will never recover to anything like what they were. We're in a new world of work now, with a "hybrid" pattern the new normal for most.

Absolutely, I should have put an asterix after recover in as much as I meant recover to what we were at before the latest "work from home if you can" missive came out in December.

I remember LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) doing a 24 weeks in advance trial of advance tickets, under the provisio that if engineering works (remember T-12!!) changed your booked train then various remedies were available.

[bradshaw]

Timetables now available. This is the Waterloo Exeter one. Service splits at Salisbury. The Weymouth Waterloo splits at Bournemouth

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/~/media/a503f0ed0c424ddb8549fb1605ed2545.ashx

[JayMac]

Timetables now available. This is the Waterloo Exeter one. Service splits at Salisbury. The Weymouth Waterloo splits at Bournemouth

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/~/media/a503f0ed0c424ddb8549fb1605ed2545.ashx

Back to two hourly west of Salisbury. Not great. I do hope SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) run 6 carriages on these journeys.

[Mark A]

... twenty minute to a half hour waits at Salisbury [edit: and a couple of longer waits for evening connections] & Warminster's lost its remaining through trains to/from Waterloo.

Mark

[grahame]

Mirror of West of England service at http://www.passenger.chat/170122WoE.pdf

For the Salisbury / Westbury / on to WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) flow:

* SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) have also WITHDRAWN their through services from Westbury and Warminster to Waterloo and the single through train that remained in the other direction. The will now just have a single local service each day (one direction only) calling at Warminster and Westbury

* Although the operator rep and GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) person on the Railfuture Zoom Webinar earlier this week talked of retaining the final service of the day through thick and thin, SWR have with WITHDRAWN their late service from Westbury to Salisbury that was only introduced in December to provide a way home for people in Bristol and Bath to Warminster and Salisbury.

Sadly, I find myself writing rather like the South Hampshire Rail User Group ( (here) )and am disappointed to have been brought to that level by SWR.  I find myself wondering if they have any real interest what so ever in their passengers and potential west from Salisbury.

[grahame]

DATE:   14 January 2021

PRESS STATEMENT from TravelWatch SouthWest CIC^▸ (Community Interest Company )

In response to the timetable changes announced by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) in response to the Omicron Variant

TravelWatch SouthWest, the region's passenger watchdog  is deeply concerned for communities by intolerable service changes: 

Today South Western Railway, the company that operates trains between Exeter, Yeovil, Salisbury, and London, is launching an ‘Emergency’ timetable that provides a poorer service than that operated one hundred years ago.  The company claims that this is necessitated by the emergence of the Omicron variant. 

Passengers’ groups say that the service now offered is accelerating a run-down of the former main line.  The route parallels the A30/303 and M3: it links the south-west with London Waterloo and the south-eastern home counties. It also provides vital commuter services from Dorset and East Devon into Exeter.  Unlike most other services operated by South Western Railway, which are electric, the Exeter-Salisbury line relies on diesel trains, and they are over thirty years-old.
 
Much of the route was reduced to single track in the wake of the Beeching cuts in the 1960’s, since when its infrastructure has become increasingly life expired.  It is notorious for its unreliability due to the shortage of places where train can pass.  A study by the Salisbury to Exeter Rail Users’ Group found that, over the weeks prior to the Salisbury crash on 31st October, barely 50% of trains ran on time and that many were cancelled or turned back short of their destination.

One hundred years ago, in 1922, passengers from Exeter to London Waterloo had the choice of ten through trains each day, with a best journey-time of 3 hours 20 minutes, most with a restaurant car.  From today, passengers will have a choice of just seven trains from Exeter Central during the week, each requiring a change of train at Salisbury with an average wait of 23 minutes.  If the trains are running as advertised, overall journey time to London Waterloo will average three quarters of an hour longer than in 1922 – and they won’t even have a buffet.

Chris Irwin, chair of TravelWatch SouthWest commented: “This is intolerable: the line gives access to vital services, including education, and helps underpin the economy of a swathe of the southwest.  The southwest deserves levelling-up, not running down.  South Western Railway and its sponsors in the Department for Transport must be called to account.”

[rogerw]

You get the feeling that SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) have given up on this line

[broadgage]

Former main line, now a single track branch worked by DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit), connecting service only, no catering.

The scale of the decline is shocking, fewer and slower services than 100 years ago. And not only no buffet, but also not even a trolley service. Closure by stealth ?